PURCHASE, N.Y. – For a second straight season, the Manhattanville College volleyball team will be playing for a conference championship. The Valiants earned a 3-0 sweep (25-7, 25-18, 25-17) of Farmingdale State in the semifinals round of the Skyline Conference Championship tournament on Thursday night, and will now look to make it back-to-back titles with a championship bout against USMMA awaiting on Saturday.
The trio of
Ayla Ruiz (Honolulu, HI/St Andrews Schools),
Vianca Vital (Carolina, Puerto Rico/Perpetuo Socorro), and
Grace Ballagas (Carolina, Puerto Rico/Robinson School), after taking home all three Skyline Conference weekly awards earlier this week, helped pilot the way to victory as they have done all season. Vital had a team-high 24 assists, helping to set up the team's 30 kills. Ruiz posted eight of the kills, trailing only
Alejandra Figueroa's (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico/Colegio Rosa-Bell) 10 on the team. Defensively,
Grace Ballagas (Carolina, Puerto Rico/Robinson School) led the team with 15 digs.
The Valiants made quick work in the first set, jumping out to a 4-0 lead that quickly blossomed to a 16-5 advantage for the home team. The Rams had limited success getting anything going in the opener, scoring just a single point while in control of the serve. With the Valiants leading 19-7, Ruiz killed a ball to get Manhattanville possession before Vital served four aces on five attempts to close out the set 25-7.
The second set looked to be off to a similar start, as Manhattanville ran out to a 9-2 start that grew to a lead as high as 12. Trailing 20-8, the Rams were able to get possession off a Ruiz service error. Farmingdale ran with the opportunity, scoring another four points to put some pressure on the Valiants. Despite the Rams scoring 10 of the next 15 points, the deficit was too steep for them to climb out of as an attack error by Kate Flamio put an end to their second set comeback attempt.
Refusing to go away easily, the Rams grabbed their first lead of the night to begin the third, scoring five of the frame's first six points. The Valiants hung tough, pushing the score back to even at 7-7 and using a six-point run to go back ahead, 12-7. Manhattanville never looked back, slowly building their way towards match point. After a
Hannah Pena (Goshen, N.Y./Goshen) kill brought them to the 24
th point, Figueroa ended the night with her fourth ace of the match to send the Valiants back to the title game.
Up Next
It will be No. 1 hosting No. 2 on Saturday as the Valiants travel to King's Point for the championship showdown against the United States Merchant Marine Academy.
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